Published via Ecency

Greetings to the Ecency community! I present my entry for the Ecency Writing Contest #79: "Finish the Tale", a science fiction and time loop tale where a mysterious futuristic photograph triggers a time paradox that defies reality.

The prompt is👇

"I recognized the photograph, but I had never been to that place."

The protagonist finally understands the meaning of the photograph

I recognized the photograph, but I had never been to that strange place. What was that girl, who looked so much like me, doing there? The strangest thing was that the photograph seemed futuristic, with very strange people in outfits I had never seen before, and all around them machines that looked like they were from a science fiction movie. I didn't understand that picture. I asked my mother why that girl looked so much like me. If the photo had been old, I would have said it could have been her or a relative she resembled.

I've always wondered about the photograph, and I still do. How it came into my possession years ago is also a mystery. It simply appeared one day on my bedroom table. Years have passed, and I still have it—probably fate.

I decided to stop asking questions, but I never stopped looking at the image. Over time, the texture of the paper revealed something unsettling: it wasn't ordinary photographic paper, but a kind of flexible material that never wore out or accumulated dust.

Last night, walking home in a torrential downpour, a bluish flash illuminated the alley behind my house. The air grew heavy. It seemed strange to see an almost reddish light behind my house. As I approached, I saw several figures enveloped in a shimmering mist. When the light faded, I froze: before me stood a woman in a futuristic suit, and around me others identical to those in the old photograph. Metallic artifacts floated around her, projecting indecipherable holograms.

Terrified, I clumsily backed away and tripped on a step. As I fell, the backpack I was carrying opened, and several objects flew out onto the wet asphalt. The mysterious woman didn't say a word; she simply looked at me with a mixture of melancholy and urgency, quickly picked up a small tablet that emitted a blinding flash, and vanished into thin air, just as she had appeared.

The discovery of futuristic photography

When I managed to stand, my heart pounding in my throat, the street was completely empty. However, on the dry ground where she had been standing, a rigid object gleamed. I picked it up with trembling hands. It was an instant photograph, freshly printed, still warm.

Woman in shock upon seeing photo of herself in Future on loop portal.

Looking at it closely, I gasped. In the picture, I was lying on the floor, disheveled and frightened, watching the woman from the future surrounded by her extraordinary machines. I understood everything in a dizzying second: there was no ancestor, no mistake of fate. I had just witnessed the exact moment the photo was taken, the same photo that had somehow traveled back in time to end up, years ago, on the table in my own room. The loop had finally closed.